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Creed III: Worth Watching Without Rocky Balboa?
Credit: @MGM
Rocky Balboa is an iconic character, perfectly portrayed by Sylvester Stallone since 1976. Throughout the 47 years of the franchise’s history, Stallone and Rocky grew, suffered, and fought together, as the character shares a lot of things with the actor. After one of his best performances in Creed, for which the actor received a Golden Globe, it appears we won’t see more of the Italian Stallion for the upcoming Creed 3.
The movie directed by Michael B. Jordan, doesn’t feature Rocky, and in the trailer, Adonis only mentions his name once. So, will it be explained? And more important, should we go see this new Creed movie, after a second film that already started showing weaknesses?
Credit: @Lionsgate
Why is Rocky Not In Creed 3?
For anyone who has watched Creed 2, you may already know that [SPOILERS], Rocky has cancer. In the film, we saw a character losing his will to live, with no more relatives to rely on, and Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis, is the only person he’s got left. So, it offered a natural conclusion to Balboa’s story, helping Adonis for one last fight and going out with some of the most emotional scenes in the franchise.
However, that’s not exactly what was supposed to happen. When it came time to write a third movie, Michael B. Jordan and Keenan Coogler (Ryan Coogler’s brother, who also directed the first Creed film) wrote a script.
Stallone addressed the matter recently, saying that this script was “airtight” and there was no room for his character in it. According to “Sly”, the Tulsa King, Jordan was telling a very personal story with this one, something very dark, too dark for his taste. He also explained that this is not where he would’ve taken the story, and laments that Creed Iii, will stray away from boxing. Probably a mistake in his eyes that’s not too dissimilar to his own when directing Rocky V, which was bashed at the time.
Credit: @MGM
Sylvester Stallone Vs. Irwin Winkler: Fight For The Balboa Rights
Rocky Balboa may be a character created by Sylvester Stallone, but Hollywood being a shark tank, he currently doesn’t hold any rights to the character and the overall franchise. Rocky belongs to a man named Irvin Winkler, and Stallone has been at war with him for years.
Sly always seizes the opportunity to throw jabs at Winkler on social media with aggressive punchlines. Rocky, like Rambo, is a part of Stallone’s soul, he poured his heart into the stories told with the Philly outsider for over 47 years. Still according to Stallone, Winkler is behind Michael B. Jordan and the Cooglers taking the story of Creed III in a direction that prevents Sly from being in the movie.
Credit: @MGM
Should You Watch Creed III?
The first Creed movie was a refreshing surprise, at a time when Michael B. Jordan wasn’t a superstar, and Ryan Coogler hadn’t yet directed Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The second was not a masterpiece, but Stallone’s passion and incredible interpretation of Rocky Balboa saved the movie from being a snore fest.
So, now that Sly is out of the picture and that Jordan has a head bigger than the state of Alaska, is Creed III worth watching? It’s still a boxing movie, which is rare these days, but it doesn’t appear to be a promising one.
Credit: @MGM
Don’t Watch It, Break The Mold
Based on the trailer, Creed III is trying to sell us a mix of two movies we’ve already seen. Which movies, you may ask? Rocky IV and V. Adonis is now retired and rich, like Rocky was at the beginning of his fourth movie. He has lost the Eye of The Tiger, but he must reignite his flame when someone from his past comes back to haunt him. Does that sound unoriginal? That’s because it is.
It doesn’t help that it’s another movie starring Jonathan Majors, an actor that “open-eyed” Hollywood has been trying to force down our throats with HBO’s Lovecraft Country, Devotion, and as the MCU’s new villain: Kang. He’s talented, but just the perspective of seeing him again less than a month after the Ant-Man debacle is depressing.
Also, the trailer spoils the entire movie, which is a tradition Hollywood movies should get rid of.
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